At present, surgeons have a variety of sutures to choose from. Not only traditional materials such as tripes, but also more modern materials--for instance, absorbable sutures--are available in a wide variety of sizes, and a pre-cut stretch of suture material is typically steadied by compression onto a needle to create a prepared suture. Several prepared sutures are generally provided as part of a dispenser kept in a sterilised package, which is opened during surgery to expose a dispenser containing one or more prepared sutures.
It is necessary to retain the needles in a firm and easy-to-release way, so that the needle-holder can be prepared and passed on to the surgeon. The place where the needle is retained in the dispenser is generally referred to as a "needle support". The removal of the needle and the use of the suture should not be prevented either by the needle support or by the way of retaining the suture material in the dispenser.
In addition, the dispenser should not allow the suture material to remain either twisted or folded.
Various types of suture dispensers are known, many of which are individually patented, and the prior art more pertinent to the invention is described in the Brazilian patent application PI 9501435-7. According to this document, a suture dispenser is provided which has two substantially rectangular panels, made of a rigid material. Such panels are centrally aperture, one of them comprising a needle support arranged so that the needle will be accessible through the central openings. The suture is arranged into a flat coil between said panels, so that each loop of the coil will be concentrically arranged around the next one.
The position of the free end of the suture is very important and should be carefully selected, in order to avoid formation of a knot when the suture is being taken out of the dispenser. According to document PI 9501435-7, this free end is secured to the upper panel of the dispenser in a slot made in its larger side. However, this way of securing the free end of the suture causes a number of drawbacks due to its proximity to the central portion of the dispenser, thus favouring the formation of a knot in the suture when the latter is taken out. Besides, securing the free end of the suture in the described position makes the automation of the process difficult, which is vital to guarantee reasonable production costs.